A Winter's Spell
by birdywings
Summary: "Through time and shadows the world shall fall, six will answer the call, but at a cost to be lost to the sands, and only at the touch of a winter's hand can they be found, freedom and fun the time is one, the fall of the guardians has begun."
1. Prologue: A Waltz Of Shadows

**Hello everyone!**

**So here we go, the very first chapter to my sequel!  
If you have not yet read my prequel, please go do so now before even looking at this. The title is A Winter's Promise, or you can simply just search my username:) But READ THE PREQUEL FIRST!:)  
And please try to review if you can, I love the feedback:)**

**Okay, here we go!**

**-birdywings**

* * *

Prologue

A Waltz Of Shadows

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In the thick of winter, the earth is slowly bathed in the gloom of twilight when dusk begins to descend upon it.  
Darkness soaks and drenches all that lies in its path inch by inch beneath the blackness that bleeds into the sky and leaks into the horizon beyond the shutters and glass windows that are etched into the structures of shelter lining the streets below. Each building holding and containing within its walls the young souls that compose a family.  
Their silent breaths fill the quiet of their homes and hold the rhythm of sleep as their minds are slowly consumed into the illusions of a deep spell of slumber.  
And all through the night, their consciousness is completely oblivious to the darkness that is playing out beyond their dreams.  
The young mortals, who are too young and narrow-minded, remain unaware of the dancing shadows that tromp upon the earth.

Under the twinkle of the distant stars that sprinkle the streaks of black slathering the sky, the shadows of the night dance freely across the world with not a single flicker of light to cast away their gloom. And even the Man in The Moon's brilliant, silver glare of radiance is rendered powerless against them when he is enveloped into a thick cloak of grey by the hands of the clouds.  
With the light breeze of the wind that whirls through the air, their talons manage to successfully conceal his gleam behind their mist.

Yes, it is on this fine winter's night that blackness will make its advance to encroach the earth in its gloom.  
The night that shadows awaken and waltz upon the earth, free from the shackles of light to contain them.  
The night that darkness arises from the damp ground, from under the thick sheet of radiant gleaming snow that lies over the earth while wave upon wave of delicate snowflakes swirl and surf the winds until finding their place in the world.

It all begins in a room.  
Through the winding streets.  
Past the structures of shelter.  
Over the mountains that sit powdered with snow on the horizon.  
Nestled deep in the forest and through the winding glen.  
Buried under the broken frame of a bed where it is tucked away like a nightmare beneath the earth.  
There, in the looming silhouettes, lies a room that is empty with fear, pitch black with darkness, dank with the cold, haunted with nightmares, and silent with the frightened cries of children.

It is on this evening of dusk, when the world is empty with fear, pitch black with darkness, dank with the cold, haunted with nightmares, and silent with the frightened cries of children that the shadows will gather in this room as one.  
That they will step from the shadows and into the light.

Through the black, a single flame of ember is ignited within a container composed of glass, which appears to be an hour glass.  
The device of time is held high upon a pedestal that is grey with age while it flickers against the shadows. But instead of warding off their dark rays of gloom, the ember gleam only succeeds in absorbing the darkness it drowns in. And one by one, the darkness bubbling at the edges of the space morphs into the six figures that have gathered here this night, their silhouettes swaying with the flickering ember glimmer.

"Is it done?" A voice speaks through the shadows, its tone hollow with fear and cold with the dark.

"Nearly." A raspy voice replies, its one spoken word echoing through the darkness.

A chuckle surfaces from the eerie silence.  
The laugh hollow and jarring, like the frightened cries of children stranded in the depths of fear.

"Very well then," The icy voice speaks. "The time to act is now."

And one by one from the shadows step the six figures, each being young enough to still have many questions that require answering. Yet old enough to still have more answers that remain questioned by the young inhabitants of the still young earth.  
They appear from the darkness that drenches them, their features scarcely illuminated by the spark of ember, but just enough to distinguish through the pitch blackness.

Down from her perch atop the high ledge that juts out from the wall above their head, leaps a cat.  
With its fur the shade of dusk at the mid of night, the animal is camouflaged perfectly by the shadows that frame her form as black melts into black, leaving only the glow of her green orbs. They float through the blackness, their color the shade of emerald, as she paces the floor hidden at her paws on all fours.

Above her, materializes the figure of a woman.  
She stands tall, holding her head high upon her shoulders even with the weight of the grand tree that sprouts from her crown. Its roots dig deep into her skull, growing from her very bones. From one end, its tangle of branches are bare with only a speckle of snowflakes to dress the bark. Snow soon melts into blossoms of pink that bloom from their individual twigs before growing into patches of leaves that flourish with a vibrant green. And from there, the shade of the leaves melt into flames of red and paints of orange, the colors rich and radiant in the plant.  
Along the dark skin of her arms snake vines of a vivid green. They tie and coil around her body like they would a tree before extending into the flowing dune of sand that forms the lower half of her figure.

Below her, stands a little man with his arms folded across his chest while a cloud of grey smoke puffs from the pipe he bites in between his teeth with his every breath along with the slightest hint of a paunch poking out from under the pressed green suit he wears.  
On the crown of his head and atop his receding hairline of red curls, sits a homburg hat the shade of green to match his suit with a single four-leaved clover tucked in its black band.

In the air above him hovers the figure of another man only slightly taller than him.  
He has a head of golden hair that sweeps and dips over his orbs of a transparent blue. He floats there, is figure draped in a cloak of white much like a sheet, with his feathered wings beating silently behind him and his hands gripping tightly to the bow he caresses, and engraved into its hilt is a trail of red hearts.

And through the thick blanket of shadows glint orbs of golden that only ignite when he emerges from the pitch blackness that surrounds him. His thin figure is cloaked in grey robes that hang loosely against his pale skin. His head of dark hair is slicked back and spiked at the ends.  
His lips thin into a smile that is twisted and distorted at the corners.

"Come my friends, let us step out from under this veil of shadows and into the rays of light." His lips speak through his smile.

Among these figure also stands the thin, frail figure of an elderly man.  
His body is swathed in a cloak of grey, the fabric hugging loosely to his skin of leather and wrinkles. Long, white strands of hair hang from the crown of his head and spiral around his neck and in his eyes like a curtain before blending into the beard of white that dominates his face.  
In the crook of his arm rests a wooden staff that is tipped with a blade in the shape of a quater moon. It is an object best known as a scythe to many. Meanwhile, his narrow fingers wield from the source of ember light streams of golden sand. And from here, he manipulates and knits them together, carefully weaving the fragile magic and sorcery together.  
His thin, pink lips move while his ancient eyes remain fixated upon his task at hand, and they recite the words that he has long waited to speak.

"Through time and shadows the world shall fall,  
Six will answer the call,  
But at a cost to be lost to the sands,  
And only at the touch of a winter's hand can they be found,  
Freedom and fun the time is one,  
The fall of the guardians has begun."

With his final word, the ember blaze flickers out, leaving its glow lost to the winds of winter and the shadows that waltz upon the earth.

* * *

**And there you have it! my very first chapter to my sequel:)**

***PLEASE READ! VERY IMPORTANT TO THE STORY!***

**Okay so, unfortunately I WILL NOT be able to update this story or any of my other stories for about a month as I will be away in Europe from August 24th to September 12th, where I will have NO ACCESS to the internet.  
I am really sorry to leave you all hanging like this but I promise you all I WILL be back!:)**

**I am extremely excited to write this story guys and I sincerely hope that all of you will accompany me on this journey:)  
So in the meantime, pleas review, favorite, follow or even just read:) Any and all support means the world to me you guys:)  
And remember, if you have not yet read my prequel to this story, please be sure to read that before reading this as you will be very confused:)**

**Okay, that's all for now!  
Till September!:)**

**-birdywings**


	2. Chapter 1: Between Shades of Grey

**Hi Everyone!  
****  
**

**I'M BACK! How is everyone? Anything interesting happen while I was gone? Everyone enjoy the rest of their summer?  
God, I cannot begin to tell you how amazing it is to be home again:) Not that I didn't enjoy my trip because I really really really did. It's just that after three weeks, you kind of start to realize that there really is no place like home:) (To borrow a line from The Wizard Of Oz).**

**But yeah, I really missed my family and it's the little stuff that gets to you, like home cooked meals, (God I missed those!), my dad's an amazing cook you guys:) Your own bed, even squabbles with your siblings! But yeah, it's just great to be home:)**

**For those of you who were wondering, I traveled to Porto, Portugal. Barcelona, Spain and Athens, Greece. Plus the three Greek islands Mykonos, Santorini, and Crete.  
It was all just amazing. The architecture! There is just nothing like it here in Vancouver! But I was a little disappointed with the islands, there wasn't much to see but then again, we got most of our shopping done in Crete so hey, that's a bonus!:D  
And to riversong; Yes, I did end up going to London but only upon arriving in and departing from Europe. I wish I could have had the time to meet you! that would have been so cool!:) But alas, I only had the one full day in London and I spent that on an hop on, hop off tour busXD**

**Anyway yeah, this isn't interesting at allXD I'll stop boring you guys with my travel tales.  
Last thing I'm gonna say before you begin reading though is thank you to every one who has followed, favorited, read and reviewed this story so far. Especially to the reviewers who are absolutely pure awesomeness! and thank you so much everyone for the kind travel wishes!:)  
Okay, hope you all enjoy this chapter, leave me your thoughts if you can:) I have literally been working on this chapter ALL night. So I'm sorr if iit's utter crap in some sections, but I was drifting in and out of sleepXD And I just couldn't resist. I really really really miss writing fanfiction while Ii was away and I feel I owe you guys for the long wait:)**

**So yeah, please enjoy!**

**-birdywings**

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1  
Between Shades Of Grey

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Jack

I feel the warmth of the sun on my skin when its golden rays sweep across the room, and find the curtains parting before I can decide to sink back into the deep slumber that I awake from.  
I roll onto my side, the bare skin on my chest smooth against the silk sheets pooled around me as my hands reach for her waist. Feeling for the curve of her hips while my lips search for the cool skin upon the nape of her neck as they skim the trail of freckles sprinkling the patch beneath her river of platinum-blond hair. But they only find the empty space upon the sheets beside me.

I shift until I sit propped up on my elbows as my orbs scan the room to discover her perched out on the balcony with her waterfall of shimmering blue skirts cascading down her back and her hands delicately planted on the glossy railing as her eyes skim the landscape laid out below her.  
My gaze falls to the early morning light that leaks through the doors, and I become entranced as I watch it gather around her body, the ember glow framing her figure perfectly when it casts a halo around her.

In this moment, when the sky is painted the color of her orbs and the rich gold forming her frame is the shade of her skin, she doesn't seem to belong upon the earth but rather painted across the sky for the whole world to see.  
Because Elsa's is not a face you paint for beauty to hang in a gallery, but one you painted because you do not wish for the eyes of history to forget.  
I could never forget.  
It was all too clear, like the surface of a calm lake with not a single ripple to damage the silence.  
The colors were too exact, too distinct that you could never forget a single shade.  
She is all that I see.

A smile finds its way to my lips as I swiftly retrieve my navy sweatshirt from the end of the bed and slip it over my head without making a single ripple in the still water.  
I swing my legs over the side of the mattress and rise to my feet as I summon a light breeze with my fingertips to draw my staff from the other end of the room to my palm, and as the familiar stave eases into my hand, I dig into the little pouch at the front of my sweatshirt before carefully coming to close my fingers one by one around a single object. It is light and cool and extremely fragile to the touch. I am careful as I caress the object in my enclosed fist while slipping it out of my pocket. I take a deep breath before unfurling my clenched fist one finger at a time to reveal a single ring resting in my palm.

The band is a simple, radiant white, and is composed of the interwoven pattern of snowflakes as their webbing weaves in and out of one another to create the ring.  
I had spent long and countless hours from dawn until dusk, carefully weaving the band together while conjuring all the patience I possess within my every fiber to apply every detail as I engraved the line of crystallized ice encrustations that decorates the ring.

A grin inches its way through my lips as I gaze upon the fragile and precious piece of jewelry, and, as I carefully slip it back into my pocket, I can just detect the slight skip in my heartbeat when I find myself wondering what answer her lips hold for me.

* * *

Elsa

My eyes draw closed when I feel the warmth of the sun seep into my skin as it rises between the snow-topped mountain peaks and paints the sky with its rich, golden rays. Pinks, purples and oranges chase each other through the clouds, creating a path for the blue that will soon be upon us as they chase away the darkness of night and cast their glow over the land beyond.  
A light breeze drifts through the air, carrying my hair with it as the winds of winter pass through.  
I gather my thick trail one strand at a time in my hands and begin to tie it into a braid before allowing it to hang upon my left shoulder.

As the colors spread in the sky and their shade deepen into the blue dome, I catch sight of a grey smudge looming in the distance. Its gloom hangs upon the horizon, refusing to budge. But in between the shades of grey, I can just detect the twinkle of light tucked away somewhere, the source hidden in a place where no shadow may ever lay a finger upon it.  
Its ignites a smile in my features as I recall the words of my little sister from the dusky hours of night long ago.

_"But the sky's wake," _I can just hear her whispering in my ears. _"So I'm awake. So we have to play!"_

I laugh a little at her words. Those simple, little words, and the memories they carry both good and bad.  
Who knew that words could hold such great power over us?

I feel his arms around me, the muscles tense and firm just beneath the skin as his cool touch sends shivers crawling all up and down my skin. They snake around my waist and pull me into him, drawing me back from my wandering thoughts. I can just feel his heart beating under my shoulder blade as he presses us together, the rhythm deep and steady while the tune plays from deep within him.  
It is the rhythm of life.

"Hi." He whispers, his cool breath tickling my ear.

"Hi." I breathe as I lean back into him, allowing him to support my weight while my arms make their way over his.  
I can feel his grin against my temple when he plants a kiss in my hair.  
We stand here for a moment, just watching the light chase away the shadows under the ceaseless sky.

"Elsa?"

I let my head roll to the side until my cheek comes to rest upon his chest. "Yes?"

"Are you okay?" He asks, giving my hands a little squeeze.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just-..." I falter, then feel my teeth dig into my lip.

"What? What is it?" He presses, trying to tilt my upwards so that my blue orbs may meet his.

I lose myself instantly to the icy frozen there, in his eyes. The color is piercing, but yet soft around the edges.  
They are so blue. You could never forget a blue like that.  
They can almost be a whole color all their own.

"Elsa, tell me." He breathes, his tone soft enough to soothe me to sleep and sweep me away on a journey through the illusion of my mind that often consume us in the dark hours.

"I was just-," I inhale deeply, trying to collect myself. "Thinking about Anna."

"Anna." He repeats, his breath leaving his lips in a cloud of smoke.

I nod, my head bobbing but not entirely present.  
"The sky... It just reminded me of her."

My gaze falls to the floor and my teeth bite at my lip. But his arms are still around me and mine are still around him.  
I wouldn't have it any other way.

I close my eyes, breathing in his scent of pine and cinnamon. Like Christmas.  
I don't even feel the stray tears falling until he catches them.

"Hey. Hey, look at me," He whispers, his hands guiding my eyes to his. "She loved you, you know that?"  
I nod into his cool palms while holding my gaze to his.

"She lived a good life, and I know she's proud of you from wherever she is now."

I smile, letting his words find their way to my heart and remain there.  
I want to remember his every breath.  
I want to remember every word that he whispers in my ear.  
I want to remember the picture he paints for me when I lose my way again.  
I want to be able to see the colors he streaks across the canvas with his words even when the lights go out and the shadows take a life of their own.  
I want to remember.

We stand here with our arms around each other, wrapping ourselves up as one n a cocoon of our own creation, just shielding each other from the world that spins too fast for us all sometimes.  
I let his words stay with me and allow what memories I carry of Anna wash over me until I am able to breathe beneath the water.

"Hey," Jack says, inching his neck forward so that ice-blue meets sky-blue. "What do you say we go spread some freedom and fun?"

I feel the tug in my lips and his arm slithering around my waist, his grip tightening around me as he prepares to take off even before I have answered.  
"You know you don't have to hold me anymore," I say with a hint of a smirk. "I can fly now."

He grins, the expression spreading to his eyes and revealing all his dazzling teeth. "I know. But I like to have you close to me." With that, he draws me closer, even when I can't get any closer.

I stare at the floor, watching the faint reflection of my orbs staring back at my through the ice as I try to hide the color rising in my cheeks.  
"Just don't let me fall." I say, and gently lay a hand on his chest.  
I feel his heart just beneath my palm and the beats everywhere, like firecrackers coursing through my veins.

He tugs me close enough so that his breath tickles my ear, and in it he whispers, "Never."

* * *

**So how is it so far? Good? Bad? Any feedback is greatly appreciated!**  
**Does anybody want to guess who the five figures were in my prologue? Leave your answers in the reviews!:)**

**Also, can you guys do me a favor? and I need your HONEST opinion. If this story worth writing? I know that A LOT of sequels ruin the prequels for people, (Believe me, I know), so I just want to verify that A Winter's Spell won't run A Winter's Promise for you guys. A Winter's Promise was my first very successful story and I would be really upset if a sequel ruined it for you guys, so please just tell me honestly?:) The main reason why I even decided to write a sequel was because I didn't think a lot of people would be happy with the way I ended things for A Winter's Promise. I know it wasn't exactly an open-ending but I thought people would want more to it. But then I just couldn't imagine it any other way so voila! Sequel is born.**  
**But please guys, just tell me honestly if this is worth writing or if you guys feel it will ruin A Winter's Promise for you. I value each and every one of your opinions!:)**

**Okay, hope you enjoyed!**

**-birdywings**

**P.S. For those of you who are reading Crossing The Skies, I am going to try and post chapter 4 either Sunday or early next week:)**


	3. Chapter 2: Bending The Rules

**Hey everyone! **

**I am so sorry for the wait! I had a little trouble putting this chapter into words... I still don't exactly feel like this is my best but I suppose it will have to do:)  
****Anyway, thanks for the outstanding support so far! Your feedback and kind words mean the absolute world to me!:)**

**More to come soon!**

**-birdywings**

**P.S. I have recently posted a new Jelsa story all on its own with no relation to either A Winter's Promise or A Winter's Spell, and it's titled 'Wings'. So if you guys can check it out, it will really mean a lot to me!:)  
****Enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

* * *

2

Bending The Rules

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Elsa

A surge of energy pulses within me and boils from deep inside the center of my being as we soar through the air, surfing the wind and riding its forceful gusts into the next wave.  
I watch the world sink beneath us. I watch the grand steel buildings rising up from the ground and lining the streets below as they scrape into the sky, shrink into nothing but grey little specks. I watch until the treetops full and brilliant with green vanish from my view, leaving me with only the wide expanse of the thick blanket of snow lying upon the earth to stretch across my field of sight. I watch the world sail past us in splotches of grey and green, and blurs of white and the ember glowing from the speckles of streetlamps lining the winding paved roads below.

From up here, it is as if the world has built itself anew and I am seeing it for the very first time.  
All that I know and all that I have seen is a whole different sight from above.  
From here, the world looks like a maze with countless winding turns, twists, roads, and paths to be discovered and ventured upon up until the very last corner of the earth. Until you reach the very edge of the universe and come to stare directly into the unknown abyss, and even by then, there will still remain many more to tread upon.

I feel Jack's grip tighten around me as we rise into the air, gaining speed with each ascent, and my eyes become glued to the blue streaked across the dome above us as we near it.  
Jack steers us into a cloud, and our laughter fills the atmosphere when we shake the dust from our hair.  
As we swerve in and out of the field of clouds laid out before us, I extend my arms out to the sides and allow the breeze to catch in my palms as my hands surf the wind tingling my skin, causing the color to rise in my cheeks in a light flush of red.

"Ready?" Jack's voice whispers in my ear to be heard over the wind as it engulfs us in its roars and howls.

My head swivels upon my neck so I come to face him. "Whenever you are." I breathe against his skin, my tone all hushes and whistles as the breeze tugs the words from inside me and out my lips.

I feel his lips break into a smile just before we dive through the clouds, our flight pattern headed straight for the earth.

* * *

Elsa

The wind begins to fade, leaving a light breeze to brush against our skin and leaf through my hair, which has long been loose from its neat braid. Within a few minutes, I notice that the roars and howls have also faded with our descent as the earth soon begins to come into to focus; specks become automobiles and streetlamps, splotches rise into structures of glass or steel, smudges grow into towering trees that sprout from the ground and cut into the sky, and blurry smears form the animate figures of spectators or the active frames of children as they bound through the snow, dodging the flurries of snowballs that fly at them or lie upon the ground to create the imprint of a snow-angel in the sheet of soft, gleaming white snow.

My body grows heavy, my limbs like lead, when we touch the earth, and I teeter on my feet for a moment as I remember how to stand upon firm ground again. I plant the souls of my heels into the soft dirt under me and trail my hands down my skirts, gently smoothing out the wrinkles that have formed in the blue.  
I hear the distant gasps of delight nearby and momentarily glance up to find Sophie and Jamie Bennett hobbling toward us through the snow in their thick winter jackets. Jack and I flash them wide grins that reach into our eyes as I reach around my neck and gather my hair up into a braid before going to greet the children.

"Look everyone! Jack and Elsa are here!" Jamie calls to the remaining children, who are lingering at the edges of the clearing either invested in the building of their snow forts or in the shaping of ammo.  
Five more heads peek out from around the wide space and out they all come one by one, scurrying toward us.

"Hey guys!" Jack exclaims, ruffling a few heads of hair here and there. "Miss us?"

"Oh boy, did we ever!" Pippa pipes up, her eyes shining with the golden rays of the sun as she bounces excitedly on the balls of her feet.

Jack chuckles and plucks little Sophie from the ground when she extends her arms out to him. "Well then, I think our appointment for fun is long overdue, wouldn't you kids agree?"  
In reply, he receives a chorus of shouts in agreement, which only triggers another laugh from his lips.

"Alrighty then, how about you Sophie? What's your opinion?"

"Sled!" She cries, tossing her hands up over her head in emphasis.  
Laughter bubbles in my throat and slips from my lips.

Jack gathers both his staff and Sophie in a firm grip, and we all draw back a step in unsion only a moment before Jack launches the two of them into the air, sending a shower of snowflakes to sprinkle from above in the one, swift motion over the little clearing tucked away in the nook of trees.  
The cluster of children erupts into cheers and shouts before breaking out into a little jig around me.

I smile, sharing a laugh with them, and touch my heel to the ground, and spiraling out from beneath me comes the ice. It spreads over the snow-covered hill that dips below us like warm butter, creating a slick surface of slush that stretches farther than I can see.  
I the children file around Jack as he slowly descends to the ground. He plants Sophie down beside him and tells the group to go retrieve their sleds from the pile they left a few feet away.  
He then approaches me, his face alight with joy.  
His smile becomes my own, and I sigh through my nose as I ease my head onto his shoulder.

"Ready to face defeat?" He challenges.

My head leaves his shoulder in a rapid motion, and I flash him an daring expression. "Are you Frost?"

He laughs, placing a palm over his heart. "I think you might be mistaken your Highness."

"Oh really? I have the strongest notion that you, Jack Frost, are afraid to admit what is already clear."

"And what is that my Queen?"

I flick my eyebrows up at him and feel my lips twist into a smirk. "That I am the better sledder."

"Let's just let the sledding do the talking." His arms fold at his chest as we leave his words hanging in the air.

I can't help the laughter that boils in my stomach.  
Jack Frost.  
The most audacious of them all.  
He never backs down from a challenge.  
Or lets an opportunity for one pass him by.

We help the children set up their sleds at the crest of the steep hill, and, once we select our team members, (girls versus boys), we all pile onto our sleds.

"Okay, rules are-" Claude begins, but doesn't get the chance to finish before Jamie interrupts.

"Rules? Rules? Rules are, there are no rules," He states. "It's race and race like you mean it."

Jack smiles down at him pride as he tousles his hair. "Whoa there, settle down Champ. I think some rules apply."

"Like no racing in the streets?" I say, trying to hide the smirk from Jack.

"Hey, that was loads of fun! Right Jamie?" Jack protested with an indignant huff.

"Sure... And not to mention pretty dangerous." Jamie mumbles, working hard to conceal his smile.

I suppress a giggle with my hand and regain my composure. "Alright, no sledding in the streets. Are we in agreement?"  
Heads nod all around me, except for one. "Jack?" I twitch my eyebrow up at him and give him as hard a stare as I can muster at the moment.

"I was going to... mostly." He says with a shrug.

I laugh and take my position on the four-person sled, right at the very back. In the front sits Pippa, behind her is Cupcake, and then bouncing in my lap is Sophie with her wild mess of stringy blond hair. At the front of the boys' sled is Jamie, who sits on his knees, peering over the front of the sled and down the hill stretching below us. Behind him is Caleb, then Claude, then Monty, who's hands nervously adjust and fiddle with his spectacles, and finally, at the very end sitting cross-legged, is Jack.

"Okay, on your mark-" I begin to announce.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why do you get to call it?" Jack questions, his cerulean orbs glinting in the sunlight.

I flash him a grin. "Because I don't trust you."

"Sure, you don't." He mutters with the remains of his smile still plastered to his lips.

"On your mark," I feel the girls' muscles tense as they grasp the edges of the sled. "Get set," They lean back into me, shifting all their weight to the back for the slide down. "Go!"

We pitch forward to have a gust of wind meet with our faces, causing the flush to rise in our cheeks and its howls to whistle in our ears as we speed down the hillside, watching the array of trees surrounding the clearing flash by us in smudges.  
We lose sight of the boys within seconds as we glide down the hill and barrel through the thick slush lying upon the ground. All the while, I steer the sled clear of the many obstacles that sit in our path. I take us through the winding maze of the woods, dodging the many trees and stumps that sprout from the gleaming white powder beneath us, and make the sharp twists and turns through the shrubbery.

"Hurry Jack! We're gaining on them!" I hear Caleb cry over the wind.

I cut a quick glance at them to see their sled plowing rapidly through the snow not far behind us as they leave an indent of tracks in their wake.  
Before turning once again to face the road ahead, I notice a clump of snow weighing upon a tree branch just above their heads as they zip by and I smile at the light bulb that blinks in my mind at the sight of it.  
With a simple flick of my wrist and a twirl of my fingers, I call to me a light breeze, which is just enough to knock the snow free from the branch and send the pile tumbling to the crowns of their heads.  
I let the laughter loose while I watch them shake the gleaming white powder from their hair, their figures fading from my view as we speed away and cruise down the path.

By the time we reach the bottom of the hill, we all four are breathless from the laughter and exhilaration that you would only experience while traveling at speeds completely unknown to man.  
We topple off the sled and onto the snow-covered earth as we hug our stomachs, caressing the fleshiest portion of ourselves as we attempt to dull the cramp growing in our sides.  
Who knew that happiness could be so painful?

After several minutes of rolling in the snow whilst clutching our aching stomachs, I finally manage to rise to my feet and reduce my giggles to a wide grin revealing all my teeth that dominates my face just as the boys' sled nears and glides to a halt before me.  
I watch Jack hop from the sled and plant his feet in the snow before approaching me, and I have to work hard to disguise the smirk in my features. However, after failing to do so, I instead, avert my gaze to the ground at my feet and distract myself by wiping my palms along my skirts.

"That wasn't fair you know." Jack says to me, his voice just oozing mockery as he nudges my shoulder with his.

"Oh, like you know about fair." I say, laying my palm on his chest.  
He takes my hand in his, and shifts it a few inches to the left so that it comes to rest directly over his heart.

"Well, I know that using your powers wasn't fair." He whispers.

"As I recall, you never mentioned any rules." I say, taking the one step I need to breathe in the same air as he does.

"True."

"You know what else is true Jack?"

"What's that Elsa?" He whispers.  
My name is like a brand new word in his mouth.  
The way he speaks it, like it is so much more than my name.  
Like it holds a secret.  
Or like it is the beginning of something.

I lean forward so that my lips are in line with his ear. "That I'm the better sledder of course."


	4. Chapter 3: The Promise Of Forever

3

The Promise Of Forever

Jack

From where I sit, I can see it all.  
The effort and careful hands that go into the busy task of building a fortress of snow brick by delicate brick.  
The laughter that ensues after the first snowball is thrown.  
It is all fun in motion.

It is simply what I do.  
What The Man In The Moon has appointed me with.  
Bringing and spreading the fun to all those who roam the earth.

The sight brings a smile to my lips as I perch myself atop the streetlight that towers over the scene playing out below.  
I lean on my staff, watching as the children squeal and laugh in delight. Each child a bundle of excited molecules bouncing around just beneath their skin.  
I leap from my perch and dive to the snow-covered ground below, listening to the wind whistle in my ears while tossing a few snowballs here and there, never once missing my target.

I plant my feet upon the rough bark of a log that lies a few feet off to the edge of the clearing and wait for the children to come charging at me with grins, etched in their features and their palms loaded with ammo as the glare of the sun catches in their orbs, igniting them with a flame that will never be extinguished.  
Within moments, the children have gathered around me, their hands held behind their backs, and I can just hear them tossing the snowballs lightly into the air before catching them in their palms again while they anticipate my next action.

I take to the air in a cloud of snowflakes, dodging the wave of snowballs that begins now begins to wash over the space below.  
Laughter leaves my lips as I spin through the air and disappear into a flurry of gleaming, white flakes before retaliating with an advance of snowballs that causes the children below to disperse immediately. Each one scattering in their own direction in a fit of laughter when the wave of snow rains down over them.

I lower myself to the ground, manipulating the wind to caress my body until my feet touch the slush covering the earth.  
I notice Elsa caught up in weaving together a snowman for Sophie off to the side out of the corner of my vision and I just can't seem help myself what with the smile that tugs at my lips.

"Psst, hey Jamie!." I whisper to him.  
His head whips in my direction and I watch the grin and glint in his eyes slowly grow when he reads the message I deliver through my one glance.  
I whip us up some ammo and we quickly, but quietly, inch our way over to where the two stand.

I glance over at Jamie for only a moment with a finger pressed to my lips before cranking my arm back and releasing the snowball to fly at Elsa's back, which remains facing me. That is, until she whirls around in bewilderment until her blue orbs land directly on me, and I can practically see them growing a shade colder as the ice sets into her features, triggering a mischievous curve to her lips.

"Jack Frost." She say through gritted teeth.

"Yes Snowflake?" I say, innocence taking shape in my tone as my hands tie around my back and my feet kick at the snow.

"You are just completely unbelievable." She says, trying to smooth the grin tugging at her lips into a frown of reprimand.

"And that's why you love me."  
At my words, she comes at me with a gust of wind that sends me sailing through the air and landing upon the fort-in-progress on the opposite side of the clearing.

"Yay, yay, yay!" I hear Sophie's little voice cheering from Elsa's side, and can't help but smile.

I watch from afar as Elsa lays a hand over Sophie's head of blond and ruffles a few thin strands affectionately.  
The sight fills my heart with warmth, as if warm honey has just spilled into my heart.  
She would have made a wonderful mother.

I call to the wind and in a moment I am absorbed into a gust of wind.  
I fly at Elsa in a blur of white and blue before scooping her into my arms and carrying us into the air while her giggles fill the wind whipping around us.  
The children slowly trickle in from the edges of the clearing and fill the patch of ground below us.

"Where are you going?" Cupcake calls up to us, shielding her brown eyes from the glare of the sun with the back of her hand.

"We'll be back soon, I promise!" I call back to the children. "There's just something we have to do first."  
Elsa cuts me a quizzical glance, but I offer her only a mere shrug with a flick of my eyebrow and a grin at the corner of my mouth.

She shakes her head at me with a hint o a smile as she calls down, "I'll be back to finish that snowman soon Sophie!"  
And with her words hanging in the air, we rise into the air toward the clouds, floating on the breeze passing through the streets of Burgess as we leave the children to erupt once again into banter and fun.

"What exactly do we have to do that is so important Mr. Frost?" Elsa questions with a flick of her eyebrow.

"That, Miss Elsa of Arendelle, is for me to know and for you to find out."

"Oh, playing it secretive are we?" I feel her shoulder nudge against mine teasingly.

"Yes, now close your eyes."

"What?" She asks dubiously.

"You heard me, close them."

"Are you seriously going to make me-"

"Yes, I am. Now will you please quit arguing and just close them?" I say, trying to sound exasperated through my smile, but her stubborness is one of every puzzle pieces I love about her. One of the smaller pieces she is comprised of that add up to the bigger picture of miracles she is.  
I feel the heavy sigh on my skin as it leaves her lips.

"I love you." I whisper in her ear as we soar over the city roaring with the sounds of life in motion below.

"Really? Is that how you plan on getting off my nerves?" She asks me with closed eyes, and I can just see the tint of purple eye-shadow that tones the edges of her eyelids and the curves in the tips of her eyelashes.

"Yes, and I have a strong feeling that it's working."

I can hear her smile even when she replies with, "Don't flatter yourself Frost."

* * *

Elsa

"Okay," Jack's voice whispers in my ear. "Open them."

The curtains draw open to reveal the silhouetted landscape of the town tucked away in the forest lying out below the edge of the snow-peaked cliff we sit upon, and my mind quickly concludes us to be back in Arendelle. But this isn't just any mountain.  
Even after centuries, I can still recognize this as the mountain we perched ourselves upon all those years ago.  
When we were young and foolish.  
When we were clueless and oblivious to the world that awaited us beyond each other.  
When we were just beginning to unlock door for one another and find ourselves through each other.  
When we were broken and bent as the two lone ghosts wee had been.  
When we found healing in ourselves through one another.  
When we fell into love and remained there, under each other's spell.

The first time our lips touched.  
Still so fresh and new in my mind.  
How cool they had been against each other, the embrace sending an electric surge to seep into my skin and pulse through my veins.  
How his lips numbed mine with even the slightest pressure, draining me of all feeling and stealing away my every thought as I lost myself to the kiss.  
How the touch of his skin against mine had both awakened and ignited me.  
How I had melted from our surroundings and into his skin, leaving only our bodies pressed against each other with no space left to divide us.  
This mountain was still alive with the memory of that night.  
It is alive with the ghosts of our past selves.

I feel Jack's palm slide into mine and watch my eyelids dip slightly when his fingers intertwine with mine, his skin against mine drawing me back from the past.  
He glances back at me before directing my attention to the navy that streaks across the azure above us where the moon sits untouched as it bestows its glow down over the earth, painting a sliver streak of light into the picture.  
That is when I notice the ribbons of purples, pinks and greens cutting across the black dome.

A gasp catches in my throat, the vibrant streaks of colors taking my breath away as I stand there in awe and don't even peel my gaze away from the ribbons dancing in the sky when I feel Jack's fingers tugging at my sleeve, inching me toward the edge of the mountain where he assists me to the ground.  
While still awash in the spell the Northern lights have cast upon me, I feel Jack lay his hand on mine and the grip of his fingers as they enclose around my hand, still reminding me that he is awake and I am alive, and that we are together. Here. Now. Always.

"Elsa? I love you. I loved you two hundred years ago and I still love you now. I never stopped loving you and I never will." His voice is hushed, soft. Just a whisper in the wind.  
A lullaby sinking me into the spell of sleep.

"I made you a promise two hundred and six years ago, that I would protect you as a guardian. Then I made you another promise that I wouldn't allow another child to endure the ache and loneliness of isolation ever again." He pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath to carry through the memories both promises bring back.  
"But this," That is when the sliver glint of the small object Jack pulls out from the pouch of his hoodie catches my eye, and I cannot seem to tear myself away from the ring as it reflects the purples, pinks and greens slicing through the navy above us. "This is the one promise that I will make you forever. One that will never grow empty or meaningless, fade with time or become lost to darkness, or even die with the eventual and inevitable collapse of the sun or moon."

He holds the ring nestled in between his fingers over our interlaced hands that still sit between us in the snow.

"I swear to you Elsa, that my love for you and all that you are-flaws, farts and all-" A laugh leaves my lips at this, because only Jack, the love of my life, can crack a joke even when he is trying to be serious. "will never die."  
The tears brim in my eyes when he takes my hand in his and delicately slides the sliver band weaved together by the webbing of snowflake patterns and encrusted with crystallized ice onto my finger.

"So, what do you say Elsa? My love. My Snowflake. Will you allow me to make you the promise of forever?"

Not a single thought can penetrate the blank space that currently clouds my mind.  
Not one word is able to break the silence of my petrified lips.  
I see only blue, the shade of his eyes streaking across my vision as I lose myself to his orbs, which are staring intently back at me, awaiting the answer my lips hold for him.  
I feel only the band of a promise hugging my finger and holding within its interwoven webbing the power of his words. The weight of his promise.  
I hear only the drumming of my heart everywhere, and I'm suddenly not so sure.

I am falling. Long and hard. Far and deep.  
But not from him.  
No. Not from him.  
But rather _for_ him.  
All over again.  
Over and over and over and over again.  
And I keep falling.

* * *

Jack

I don't know what to expect.  
An answer? Yes.  
No? Maybe.  
Yes? Hoping for one.

But I will take whatever response she gives me.  
I will cross the skies for her.  
I will scour the earth for her.  
I will wait until the end of time for her.  
But I have to admit, I am taken off guard when she wraps her arms around me in one swift motion, absorbing me into an embrace.

"Uh-" I begin, but before I can continue, she presses one of her long, fragile fingers to my lips.

"Shh." She whispers against my lips before devouring them into hers, and I lose myself to her touch before my mind can process what exactly is happening.

* * *

Jack

I draw back enough to at least be able to whisper a word between or locked lips.

"Elsa-"

"Shh."

"But I-"

"Shush." She giggles, her breath cool on my skin.

I do as I'm told, and close my lips around hers, drinking her in.

* * *

Elsa

We sit upon the edge of the mountain, overlooking the town nestled below as the sun peeks out from between the snow-crested mountain-peaks and drenches the valley in its auburn rays, illuminating the land in the early morning hours.

"You know, you never gave me an answer." Jack whispers against my temple before pecking my skin with his lips, leaving a ghost of his cool touch while lying propped on his side upon the sheet of snow beneath us.

I turn to face him, resting my face in my palm. "You never had to ask."

I catch the smile playing in his lips a moment before he draws my lips to his, closing the distance between us.

"I love you." I breathe into his mouth.

I feel the smile in his lips grow against mine.  
"And I love you, Elsa."

His hand reaches beneath my chin and tilts my neck.  
I smile, my eyes drawing closed as I breathe him in.

Jack Frost.  
My guardian.  
My love.  
My forever.  
Until the end of time.

* * *

**Okay, first off, let's get something straight; THEY DID NOT MAKE LOVE ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE! I am only fifteen, I don't make it a habit of writing those types of scenes. THEY JUST KISSED, OKAY? OKAY. Okay.  
Good, glad we got that settled.**

**Second, I am really sorry for the tardy update! I tried to post last night but I didn't quite have this chapter ready yet. Plus I didn't realize how difficult it would be to write three stories at once. But I promise you all that I am not disappearing, or vanishing, or bailing, or abandoning any one of my stories. I LOVE writing okay? I am not giving up no matter how long it may take me to update. I promise I never forget about you guys and my stories!:)**

**More to come soon, stay tuned!  
Check out my other Jelsa story Wings while you're waiting!:) It would really mean a lot!:)**

**-birdywings**


	5. Chapter 4: Sweet Dreams

**Hey everyone!**

**Okay, I am so incredibly and dreadfully sorry that I left you guys hanging like that! Ugh God, I feel like I could apologize a million times over and it still wouldn't be enough to make up for abandoning you all like that. I give you all permission to scold me in the reviews!:) No flames though please!:) I will take constructive criticism but absolutely NO FLAMES!  
But anyway, I truly truly hope that this chapter makes up for all the lost time for updates!**

**And I want to thank everyone for their continued support so far! Thank you guys so much!  
I dedicate this chapter to all my followers, favorites, readers and ESPECIALLY my amazing reviewers for without all their words I would not be able to carry on with this story so thank you everyone!**

**Hope you all like this chapter and please let me know what you think-assuming and hoping you are all still with me. (I honestly wouldn't blame you if you aren't). But I really hope you are I we still have lots to do and read in this little story of mine!:)**

**Hope to hear from you all!:) The support really means a lot to me:)**

**-birdywings**

**P.S. To Katherine the Fabulous; haha no, I actually had to look up Rita Skeeter because I totally forgot who you were talking aboutXD (Let's just say I am not a huge fan of Harry Potter) Sorry Potterheads! I tried reading the books but they weren't really my type... I'll watch the movies though... Please don't hate me! Okay before you go on hating me let me just say that everyone has a right to their opinions, likes, dislikes, etc.:)  
But no, I wasn't aware that Rita had used that line, hehe whoops!:)**

* * *

4

Sweet Dreams

Jack

"Jack?" She whispers softly, hands still resting gently upon my shoulders.

"Hang on, it's probably just North checking in with everyone." I reply, drawing my lips back even when I'm not quite ready to part yet.  
I am still drunk on her.  
Still disoriented and hypnotized with her every feature.  
Starving for the very touch of her skin against mine.  
Thirsty for the taste of her lips that are as soft as a cloud and as pink as the flames of dawn, upon mine.

But despite my hazy thoughts, empty stomach, and parched throat, I create a small gap between us where we stand in the snow, holding onto her by the small of her back with one hand while I reach into the pouch of my sweatshirt with the other where a blue blaze of light glows, and pulses from.  
I dig out a snow globe that is composed entirely of crystallized ice and small enough to fit snugly into my palm.  
The orb bathes our skin in its deep spark of blue as I cradle it in the narrow space between us, allowing our blue eyes to watch the blizzard unfold within the glass. Snowflake swirl and spiral inside the globe, keeping the storm contained and restrained behind the glass.  
Keeping it hidden and concealed.  
Keeping it caged and trapped.

Gently, I shake it twice in my palm, the glass cool against my skin.  
I feel the blond strands of her hair tickling at my forehead as we lean in the gap between us, peering at the orb and watching as the blizzard within the glass begins to clear, leaving the faint and disoriented image of North's face, as if we are seeing him through water.

The contraption had been Elsa's idea as a way of communication amongst the guardians.  
With our combined abilities, she and I managed to weave together the device, using a few of North's many magical snow globes as the base for our creation. And, after a little ice here and a touch of frost there, we had created six enchanted snow globes, one for each guardian.  
North had called Elsa a Smart Cookie. Tooth had marvelled at the invention. Sandy had given her one of his famous thumbs-up. Bunny, well, he had been less than impressed. But that was just how he expressed himself.

"Jack, Elsa, my two favorite winter spirits!" He greets us, his voice echoing inside the globe.

"Hi North." Elsa waves.

"Hey Santa, what's up? Did you burn the Christmas cookies again?"

A crease forms between his dark, bushy eyebrows, which only deepens the frown shaping in his features. "No." He mumbles through the indistinct image.

"Oh, that's right, you have the elves on baking duty now." I tease, feeling the grin tug at my lips.

"Careful Jack, you just got off Naughty List for defeating Pitch last time. Don't make me change mind," He informs me, tapping a finger against his temple with a smirk taking shape in his face. "Anyway, I call because Sandy has requested your assistance."

"Wait, in his realm? Are you saying Sandy wants us on the Island of Sleepy Sands?" Elsa inquiries. Her tone puzzled. Her expression quizzical.

"Is everything alright North?" I speak up.

"As far as I know," He tells us with a shrug. "Sandy did not say otherwise."

"Okay well, I guess we can drop by for a visit, Elsa?" I glance at her, and her eyes find mine, the blue in them shining with curiosity and elation.

A smile breaks free in my lips and something inside me melts.  
Something always does.

"Tell Sandy we'll get there faster than he can say the words, 'sweet dreams'."

* * *

Elsa

My breath is stolen away the moment we break through the clouds.  
From far below me, long, spiraling gold tendrils of land stem from the center of an island that glitters and gleams of golden ember like a star in the midst of the ocean. Even from above while floating amongst the clouds, I am able to determine the crests and slope of the cluster of dunes that dot the island. I watch as each mound grows taller with our descent to the land.

We land upon the sand, the material soft and warm against my skin when I dig my feet into the earth, allowing the sand to slip and slide in between my toes.  
All around us, golden streams of sand come to life, sprouting from the ground like hands and weaving around our figures before disappearing in the distance. The strings of ember flow from the river of gold at out feet to their source of magic where they braid together the dreams of every child scattered across the world.

"In the center, there lies a field of steep dunes, and in the center of that field is where the Sandman can be found." Jack's voice speaks from behind me.

I glance back at him to be greeted with his dazzling smile, and it only then that I becomes aware that his gaze has been fixated upon me this entire time. "Excuse me?"

His grin broadens. "That, my dear Snowflake, is how you find the Sandman. Guardian of Dreams, Lord of Sand, and a fairly intimidating, definitely dangerous opponent in a dual when wielding his whips woven of sand."

I laugh and take the step I need to in order to place my lips upon his.  
My hand combs through his silvery-white hair and trails down his temple, along his jaw and around his ear.  
I draw circles like this, outlining and carving his frame, for as long as I am lost to his touch. To his arms around my waist. To his soft lips against mine.  
And it is only when the blaze entwined of golden sand and silhouettes of black erupts from within the center of the cluster of dunes and burns into the blue coloring the sky, cutting and slicing across the dome hanging above our heads, that we part, and that our blue orbs lose themselves to the destruction unraveling before us.

* * *

Elsa

Shards of glass litter the river of sand at my feet and crack under my heels.  
I sink to my knees and cautiously caress a jagged fragment. I turn the remanent carefully over in my hands and watch the substance catch and reflect the sunlight that flickers in the fading blue of the sky, its rays struggling to cut through the ominous clouds of grey that shroud around it and conceal its glare.  
I return the piece to its spot in the river and rise to my feet, glancing at Jack for possible answers. But his features remain just as blank and as lost I am.

We make the trek through the maze of dunes, zigging and zagging our way through the field, stepping upon and cracking shards of glass multiple times, and losing our way several times before finally approaching the beacon of gold and black that continues to burn through the blue streaking the sky.  
The source of the beacon derives from the crest of the tallest dune, and appears to have been a giant glass of a cylinder that seems to act as an enhancer for Sandy's dream sand and would tower high above our heads, if not for the broken and cracked glass-which answers the question of where the shattered remanents of glass scattered throughout the island came from.

We approach the beacon, watching the gold and black struggle against each other as they color the sky with their blaze.  
"What happened here?" I say under my breath with an absent mind and mostly to myself.

"I don't know," Jack replies, the smile from earlier wiped from his features and replaced by a distant, grim expression. One he only wears when he senses the nearby presence of danger.  
I know him too well. Better even than I know myself.  
I can read him like a book.  
With my eyes.  
With my hands.

I have counted his different expressions.  
I know his gestures even before he engages them.  
I have him memorized.

From the very last hair to the tips of his toes.  
From his every feature to his every action.  
From his every laugh to his every cry.

"But I intend to find out." He finishes with, his face darkening a shade.  
I nod at him, feeling my expression harden with determination.

That is when the piercing cry of a child slices through the eerie silence that has descended upon the island.  
In a quick glance, I see the fear that has dissolved into Jack's eyes. The terror that is devouring him from the inside the shriek.  
Without a word, we take to the air and fly on the wind in the direction of the scream only to be plunged back to the earth by a force so great the wind is knocked and drained from my lungs.  
His name is the last word to leave my lips before I am engulfed into a great wave and washed away by the sea.

* * *

Jack

I bolt upright upon the damp sand, gasping and sputtering for air through the hacking and coughing as I attempt to clear my lungs of the water that has filled them.

_Elsa._

Where is she?  
I glance around frantically for her but only manage to find my staff lying in the sand nearby.  
I reach for it and climb to my feet when I am hit from behind with another wave.

The sand is reduced to nothing but mush and sludge beneath me.  
My body is heavy and wet with the blow, but even so, I manage to raise my head a little as I choke on the water and sand that has gathered in my throat.  
And out of the corner of my eye, even when the light slowly begins to recede in my blue orbs, I see her through the water that has pooled in my eyes.

She stands with her back straight and head held high above her shoulders. Long and tall.  
She is dark-skinned in her face and arms with ember eyes that blaze as bright as the sun.  
While her legs are shrouded in a flowing river of sand that forms her lower-body, her arms are tattooed and drawn with vines that are painted a vibrant green as they coils and snake around her body.  
Upon her head sprouts a grand tree, its branches extending the length of her skull. From one end, its twisting limbs are bare with only the small sprinkle of snow to cover the bark, which then merges into branches that bloom with pink-tinted blossoms. And from there, the blossoms upon the tree's limbs become leaves of green before melting into leaves colored of a rich, ember orange.

"It's like they say Jack Frost," She speaks, her voice deep like an ocean, yet light like the wind. "Never meddle with the forces of nature."


	6. Chapter 5: Plunged Into Darkness

**Hi everyone!**

**Early with update this time because I owed you guys:)****  
****Special thank you to Katherine The Fabulous for her review on my last chapter:) Hope you enjoyed it!**

**Hope you like this one, please comment if you can:) I love the feedback! every review brings a smile to my face:)****  
****Take a look at my other stories that I am currently writing. Another Jelsa story called Wings, and an Eleanor & Park and Fangirl crossover if any of you are interested, please give them a try:) It would really mean a lot to me:)**

**-birdywings**

* * *

5

Plunged Into Darkness

* * *

Elsa

I rouse from the spell of darkness that had befallen my mind no more than a few moments ago.  
With sputters and coughs, I manage to sit upright upon the damp sand, which is both heavy and mushy with the water from earlier. While blinking away the water that had caught in my eyes and now blurs my vision, I can hear the applaud of thunder roaring from above me. But when I glance up, I discover that it is not the sky that bellows so, but rather the threads of black and gold that continue to struggle relentlessly against each other as they crackle and burn into the dome of grey.

I push myself onto my feet, teetering only a moment when my vision clouds over with blotches of vibrant colors before catching the eyes of emerald with a thin line of a dark pupil etched vertically into the orbs. Like the eyes of a snake. Ravenous, shrewd, and clever above all else. The green that colors them is so bright that they could be seen even in the thick of night, long after the shadows have risen from the horizon and the moon has settled into the sky inky with black. I am petrified where I stand under their gaze. Frozen into place.  
The orbs belong to none other than a cat.  
The creature is small, no larger than the average cat.  
It is perched upon the sand, only a few feet from where I stand from across the clearing where we are nestled deep inside the formation of dunes that surround us.  
Its figure is covered in a thick layer of fur that is the shade of night.  
The animal is nothing short of a shadow in the mid of night.

I watch its tail swish from side to side behind it, as if it is simply biding its time, and feel the pressure of my teeth when they bite into my lip nervously.  
This is no ordinary cat. I can ascertain that much.  
No. This is no ordinary animal.  
This is the cat of Halloween.

The cat of midnight.  
The cat of shadows in the night.  
The cat of all things that crawl and creep at dusk.  
The cat of tricking and most certainly not of treating.  
The cat that brings bad luck to those it crosses paths with.  
Midnight, she is called.  
I have heard of the other spirits over the months since my initiation as a guardian.  
And deep down, right in the very depths of my stomach, I know. I know.  
I know that she isn't here to say hello.  
At least not as a friend.

Before I can even consider taking a cautious step forward, or listen for the racing of my heart, or even feel the start of tremors run through my body, I watch in horror as Midnight's emerald eyes glow, brightening a shade more. The first thing I become aware of is her sinking from my view, and it slowly dawns on me that the sand at my feet has begun to yank me down into the mouth of the earth, swallowing me whole.

* * *

Jack

"Mother Nature." I breathe, staggering to my feet with one hand clamped over my chest while the other caresses my stave.

"In the flesh." She replies as the smile shapes into her lips, wrinkling her dark skin at the edges a little, and gives a slight bow of her head.

"Why are you doing this? What business do you have here?" I demand, extending my staff out at her in anticipation of an advance should she make one.

"Aw Jack," She pouts, tying her hands around her back and kicking at the sand innocently. "Surely there are no hard feelings between us?"

"That depends, what are you doing in Sandy's realm?" I sneer at her.

"You have it all wrong Frosty-can I call you 'Frosty'?-I'm going to call you Frosty. No wait, wait! Honey. Yes, that is most suitable. You have it all wrong Honey." She says slyly.

"Then why don't you set me straight? Because I am fairly certain that I have all the facts I need considering you just attacked me."

"Well, first of all Honey, it is not Sandy I am out for, but rather all of the guardians."

I frown at her then, lowering my staff only a little while I attempt to conjure up a coherent sentence from the muddled mess of my mind as I try to process her words.  
"What have we done to wrong you?"

She gives a slight laugh. But it is wrong.  
All wrong.  
It is hollow, twisted and full of deceit.

"Oh Honey, absolutely everything."

With her words fading between us, she takes a step back and lifts her arm to the wind, her ember orbs still boring through me.  
Before I have time to react, before I can launch myself into the air, or dodge out of its path, or even process what she is about to do, a swirling vortex of the wind gathers between us and advances toward me, taking with it the sand at our feet.  
I leap into the air, trying to catch on the wind, but I am quickly absorbed into the vortex of sand and swallowed into its tube of blinding sand and suffocating wind. And all the while, I watch the sky that darkens with grey as it rises from my view.

* * *

Elsa

The sand is in my eyes.  
In my mouth.  
In my lungs.

I can't see.  
I can't speak.  
I can't breathe.

I outstretch my hands, digging my fingertips deep into the ocean of sand I drown in.  
My eye fall closed, my teeth tightening until clenched.  
I let it go.  
I let it all go.  
I feel the ice course through my veins, numbing me from the inside before draining from my fingers and seeping into the earth, freezing it to its very roots.

I break the surface, catching my first gasp of air after a long dive.  
I continue to rise upward, cutting across the greys that shade the sky, upon the pedestal of ice I am perched upon until Midnight is nothing but a speck of black on the earth far below me.

"Huge mistake." I speak not even a second before hurling myself from the pedestal and diving to the ground below, plunging myself like a torpedo down to the earth.

* * *

Jack

I slice through the air like a blade, cutting through the winds. All the while trying to steer clear of the lighting that reaches down from the sky of grey with its talons extended and touching to the earth in a flash of silver.

"Oh Honey, be a dear and hold still would you?" Mother Nature calls to me, her voice three pitches too high.

I dodge another bolt of lightning and veer back around when I am enveloped into a tidal wave of water. I am swallowed into the water and tossed this way and that until the wave collides with the island of sand.  
I rise to my feet, stumbling and choking a little on the way up, my body drenched and heavy with the water.  
I feel the vines creeping up around my legs, wrapping and coiling around my body like they would the base of a tree. I struggle to break free of their shackles, jabbing at their threads with my staff and frosting them over, but I am quickly rendered defenseless when they grab hold of my stave like hands and toss it out of my reach upon the sand.

"Ah, now look at what we have here, the mighty Jack Frost," Mother Nature spits, as if the words taste bitter when rolling off her tongue while she encircles me. Studying me with her flaming ember orbs and her arms folded behind her back like she is trying to decide where I would be better preserved as a token of this dual; upon the hearth, or up on the pale wall.

"Tell me something Honey," She breathes, her breath warm on my skin and tinted with the scent of the sea. All fish and salt. "How is it that you ever managed to defeat the Great and Powerful Pitch Black when you can barely defeat me now?"

"Because he's not as powerful as he believes or relays himself to be." I snap.

She laughs at my words, enjoying the slow process of finishing me off.  
The grip of the vines tighten, pinching my skin while I bite back the anger and curses that rise up in my throat. The words and emotions suffocate me as they build up in there.  
"Oh, naughty, naughty," She chastises me, threading on of her dark hands through my silvery-white hair. "I tell you Honey, if Pitch were here, he would ha-"

In a flash of silvery-blue, a blast of ice catches Mother Nature in the side, knocking her to the ground before she is able to utter the remainder of her sentence.  
My head snaps up to find Elsa descending toward me, her shimmering skirts floating around and framing her figure perfectly as she plants her feet in the sand.

"Elsa." I breathe in a sigh of relief, while she taps the thick vines with her fingertips, coating them in a layer of frost.  
I break free of their grasp, shattering the greenery like glass.

I draw her into my arms, pulling her into me as I breathe her in and feel her arms come to life around my shoulders.  
"I love you." I whisper against her ear.

Before she has a chance to reply, Mother Nature has already recovered from Elsa's advance and is now climbing to her feet.  
"Oh, goody! The two spirits of winter in one area, what a dream come true! And you kids know something? I despise happy reunions."

I watch her raise a dark hand in our direction, fingertips outstretched, when Elsa interjects.  
"Want your kitten back?" She inquires, her tone smooth and flat as she produces a cat with fur as black as coal from her blue skirts.

I see Mother Nature's mouth fall open, like she is about to say something, but decides otherwise as it draws closed.  
Elsa tosses the cat into the sand by the tail, and with a screech it sails through the air before landing on all fours with a hiss at Elsa.

"It's over Mother Nature." I growl through gritted teeth.

"On the contrary Frost, it's all just beginning."

At her words, on the crest of a sloping dune of sand, we can just spot the golden form of Sandman fending off the all-too-familiar shadows of stallions with his whips woven of golden tendrils of sand. There's a whole herd of them, each standing on their hind legs with their front hoofs raised, their muzzles huffing and puffing, their golden orbs flashing.

"Sandy!" Elsa cries, placing a hand over her mouth as the tears pool in her eyes.

The smile plays out in Mother's Nature's lips. "So you see Frost, it's like I said, we're coming for the guardians. All of the guardians."

"What do you mean by 'we're'?" I demand. "Who else is helping you?"

She chuckles, the flame blazing in her eyes like a fire crackling in the hearth. "That Honey, is for me to know and for you to find out. But for now, all you need to know is that this-," she waves her hand with a flick of her wrist, gesturing to the destruction they have left in their path. "-is only the beginning."

I dive at her with a blast of ice spiraling from the tip of my staff, which she attempts to evade, but I am too quick. I manage to freeze her into place against the slope of a dune, leaving only her head to poke out of the ice that encases her body. I notice Elsa doing the same to the cat out of the edge of my vision.  
Together, they struggle and grunt against the cold that freezes them into place, but their efforts are futile, at least until the ice melts.

"Wait right here." I tell them before grasping Elsa's hand in mine and allowing the air to sweep us up into the wind.

"Jack?" Elsa asks timidly, her and fiddling nervously at her chest when she realizes what we are headed for.

I bite at my lip and tighten my grip on her. "Hold on, it will be okay," I whisper just below her temple and against her ear, my breath tickling at the skin on her neck. "Trust me."

She looks at me then, her blue eyes as vast, bright and as endless as the day I first lay eyes on her mesmerizing beauty and later, had the privilege of making the acquaintance of her bewitching personality and quirks.

"I trust you."

My lips shape into a smile and I touch them to her temple, leaving a ghost of my smile upon her skin.  
This entire island was once a star that twinkled against the navy night by night. But one fateful night, the star came hurtling toward the earth in a blaze of gold where it landed, thus creating this entire island of sand where the source of the dream-sand originates from. Now, night by night, the Sandman will gather the sand from all over his island, collecting it from miles and miles around the sloping tendrils of land. Once collected, he will weave it all into the towering glass cylinder where it once sat upon the crest of the tallest dune. From there the sand will be sent into the skies to travel as noting but golden specks of dust in the air-therefore amplifying Sandy's abilities-to the sleeping minds of children, bringing within the sand all their dreams.  
But now, the golden dream-sand struggles against the shadows where the cylinder had once been, and it is up to us to prevent the darkness from venturing anywhere beyond this island.  
We must contain it.  
We must freeze it.  
I call to the wind with a flick of my wrist, accelerating our speed through the air as we dive into the threads of black and golden and become engulfed by their shades of light and dark.

* * *

Elsa

We are swallowed into a world of shadows and light.  
Once within the vortex of the sand, I slide my hand into the wall of gold and black that encases us, feeling the ice numb my veins and melt from my body. It crackles while seeping into the whirlwind that swirls around us.  
We soar within the sandstorm, frosting and freezing the raging vortex over from the inside.  
For a moment it's working.  
I can feel it working.

Right up until the wind picks up, gaining both force and speed, and we find we can no longer keep up.  
And so, we are left to be lost to the winds.  
We serve this way and veer that way, endeavoring to steer clear of the current in the wind.  
With a jolt, we are tossed from the whirlwind, and thrown to the sandy surface below.

I manage to sit upon my knees.  
I can feel my arms wrap around my stomach, hugging tightly to my midsection as I blink away the shadows that sprinkle my vision and watch all chaos unfold before me.  
The raging vortex folds in upon itself, causing the ice that we encased it with to shatter like glass and rain down upon us while all threads of gold are lost to the black before the resuming to crackling and burn into the grey above our heads.  
Bearing witness to this is like losing hope to the darkness one shade of light at a time.

From atop the crest of the sloping dune of sand, Sandy is thrown and sent to sail on the wind toward the earth in a flash of gold.  
My eyes widen and sting with fear when I feel the adrenaline wash over me, pulsing through my every fiber when I launch myself into the air after him.  
I manage to catch him just barely an inch before impact with the earth, and float us back over to where Jack kneels in the sand.  
His knees dig into the ground while he sits there, his eyes dull and glassy, dumbstruck at the sight of the vine of shadows as they are amplified at the peak of the sloping mountain of sand and climb into the sky, spreading their darkness and casting their gloom upon the world. And all at once, we are plunged not into literal darkness, but times of darkness.  
In the mind.  
In the heart.  
In the spirit.

I grasp him by the shoulders, knowing very well that Midnight and Mother Nature are already freeing themselves of their containment of ice. "Jack, Jack listen to me. Look at me please! Jack, we have to leave now!"

His eyes are so blank.  
So dull.  
Glassy and transparent of any and all emotion.  
The blue that paints them so far away now that the light won't even catch in them anymore.

"Jack!" I have to holler over the applaud of thunder that roars above our heads to reach him, and it still almost isn't quite enough.  
Almost.

He shakes his head clear of the blank page his features were only a moment ago, causing his expression to darken a shade with a mixture of emotions I cannot even place.  
Hatred? Anger? Despair? Confusion?  
I can no longer read him anymore.  
I can no longer anticipate his every action.  
I can no longer read his every word.  
I can no longer hear him  
He is so far away that I can't even see the blue in his eyes anymore.  
"Let's go."


	7. Chapter 6: Believing Is Seeing

**Hey guys!**

**Sorry updates are so irregular and infrequent, I'm trying to get better I swear:(  
****A special thank you goes out to Katherine The Fabulous and Lulu14168 for their amazing words and continuing to read this story:) Thanks guys!  
And by the way Lulu14168, I love you profile pictureXD You too Katherine The Fabulous! I'm currently reading Wicked for the first time and I am loving it, and I want to see the musical so bad! Have you seen it? Is it good? **

**As for my other reviewers, where are you guys at? You all just disappeared! I miss your funny and entertaining words:( Hope you can all return soon!:)  
**

**Random question just because I'm weird and random and like chatting and getting to know my readers; who's your favorite guardian?:)  
****Anyway, please review and enjoy!:)**

**More to come!  
-birdywings**

* * *

6

Believing Is Seeing

* * *

Elsa

I land upon a bed of snow.  
My eyelids flutter open, revealing to me the fresh blanket of glistening white that cloaks the earth wave by wave of snowflakes drifting and swirling down from the distant skies. They weave through the wind before touching softly and delicately to the earth. Each flake fusing and molding together to create an even sheet. The thickest coat. The sweetest icing on the cake.  
It is the touch of frost in the form of a blanket lying over the earth in several layers of luminous, radiant, starlit ice.

Only there are no stars to be found shining in the sky stained and splotched with grey.  
Not a single twinkle of light to catch in the eyes.  
Not one speck of silver gleaming untouched by the darkness that enshrouds us one shadow at a time.  
Not even the slightest silver lining bleeding out between the shades of grey.

I stagger to my feet, smoothing out the creases in my gown and blinking away the smudges of black that still blotch my vision only to discover that the wind has whisked us from the Island of Sleepy Sands, to Burgess.  
The silhouette of Jack stands at the edge of my vision like the shadow of a ghost I can no longer recognize in the dark. Like a broken spirit.  
With a thick line, one side of his face burns with ember under the beam of the streetlamp perched at the curb only a few yards away. While the remaining side of his face is darkened by the shadow that casts out his features, the shade of his face darker than I remember.

It is the line.  
The line that is drawn between light and dark.  
The line that struggles to separate the two even when they are as close as entwined hands and fingers. Yet as distant as separate ends of the earth.  
This is the line and these are its shades of gold and black.  
These are the colors that live within every one of us.  
This is painted in its true colors.

"It was the first place I could think of," His words bleed from his lips in a wisp of smoke, the glassy touch still lingering in the blue of his orbs. "The last place I felt hope."

I endeavour to catch his eye, but the blue in them is no longer there. They are left hollow and drained of whatever flicker of hope that still flared within.  
My lips open, but no words leak from them. I pinch them shut and extend my hand in the space between us to find his, only to see that he hands are shoved and tucked in the pouch of his blue hoodie, leaving mine to dangle in the cold space between us.

We walk through the paved streets, winding and weaving in and out from the array of houses that line the residential area on either side.  
Burgess is thick with the silence of falling snowflakes under the grey streaked sky.  
It is quiet. Too quiet.

"Where is everyone?" I whisper into the wind.  
Jack leaves my side to wander off without replying to my whispered words, his head bowed to the ground as his eyes scan and study the snow lying upon beneath his feet. And one by one, I watch his bare feet leave tracks in the snow, each footprint widening the gap between us. Carrying him further away from me one step at a time.  
My feet take over, and I trust them.  
They whisk me away through the winding streets, leaving Sandy as the forgotten silence in the snow behind me.

I study the ground at my feet as I walk, watching the glistening white pass by me but not being able to process exactly what my orbs are seeing.  
What are we to do now? What is left? Sandy's realm has been taken, and soon all the children will be left with nothing but nightmares. They will be robbed of their dreams and sink into darkness beneath the very sky

I halt in the snow and allow my eyes to travel into the sky, my gaze finding the brilliant silver halo that the Man in The Moon bestows upon the world.  
His beacon is what I search the sky for every night. Providing light even in the darkest of nights. When shadows crawl and creep. When nightmares take a life of their own and we are plunged into pitch blackness.  
His streams of silver still remain.  
There is still a chance.  
If only we are bold and even manic enough to steal it from the wind and take it into our palms.

I swivel back around and take the first step of my stride back toward Jack when the sound of a child's laughter cuts through the eerie silence that Burgess has sunk into. From the corner of my eye, the blue strips of my orbs notice the golden hair of Sophie Bennett catching and flowing in the wind as she barrels through the snow in nothing but her flannel pajamas. A soft smile engraves itself into my lips, and I take the few steps I need to reach her.

I kneel on the bed of snow when she draws nearer to me, resting one hand in the lap of my skirts while I reach into the air with the other. Out from the tips of my fingers sprouts the swirling tendrils of snow, which then erupt into a flurry of snowflakes. I watch them waltz through the air, their silvery-white shining in Sophie's emerald orbs of green as she chases the flakes, trying to grasp at them with her delicate little hands.

My blue meet her green a moment before the impact.  
Before the collision that changes everything.  
Before the moment that it dawns on me.

Her eyes sweep right over mine.  
I feel my hand come to clutch my chest and the gasp leave my lips at the emptiness I am filled with when Sophie, little Sophie Bennett, the young girl whom I saw so much of Anna in, runs right through me.  
I rise to my feet, my legs trembling and buckling beneath me.  
I see Jack kneeling in the snow, his face alight with a dazzling smile, out of the edge of my vision  
I hear the laughter of Jaime Bennett, and the words leave me too late.

"Jack wai-" I gasp.  
But I am too little, too late.  
Too late to save him from what he fears most.  
From the shadows that struggle for his soul.  
From the darkness he drowns in at the realization when Jaime Bennett runs straight through him.

My hands clamp over my mouth a moment after I breathe in the breath that will never be exhaled.  
"Jack..." My voice is small, lost to the darkness that slathers the sky and devours the blue in his orbs when they meet mine.  
Hollow.  
Empty.  
Lost.  
Gone.

He kneels just below me, but his voice struggles to reach me, his words so distant that he might as well be calling to me from the bottom of a ceaseless black pit. "We have to find the other guardians."


End file.
